


Pulling Our Weight

by verevolwes



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Canonical Character Death, M/M, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-11
Updated: 2013-02-11
Packaged: 2017-11-28 22:47:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/679725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verevolwes/pseuds/verevolwes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gene only calls up the chat service on a dare, not expecting to be connected to such a distraught operator.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pulling Our Weight

**Author's Note:**

> Based on actually terrible real life events.  
> Title comes from a Radio Dept. song of the same name.

"Shhh! No, hey! Asshole, _shut up_!"

"Everybody, seriously."

"Hey-"

“Gene!”

“Shut the fuck up Malarkey-“

"It's ringin' ... hold up its ringin'"

That’s all it took to get the room quiet, devoid of even the clink of beer bottles and the low sounds of a radio that had just been one. Only the buzz of anticipation remained.

In the back of his mind Eugene Roe knew that there are much better ways to spend a Friday night, but a dare is a dare and that's all the excuse he needs.

_Ring ... ring ..._

Everyone was shifting, trying to get comfortable before the _Hardline_ operator answers. _Mess with 'em_ , that was the dare, _mess with 'em_. Easy enough, Roe had thought, especially after Skip had convinced him that calling up as a joke wasn’t half as sketchy as actually calling up for sex.

_Ring ..._

It fleets through Eugene's mind that maybe he should put the phone on speaker, but then there's a click on the other side and his chest feels tight and immediate like when you're worried you're going to get caught doing something bad. He thinks at the last moment that this dare should have gone to someone funnier or with more nerve than him, but it’s too late.

_"H-Hello and welcome to Hardline ... how can I make your night?"_ The operator breaths the words out mindlessly, and almost robotically except for the tiniest shake in his voice that Roe pretends not to notice. He's got a classic Philadelphian accent, but Gene barely makes note of it.

_"Hey."_ Roe says unintentionally slowly, but it's the alcohol, not him.

Everyone shakes with silent laughter, like _'Hey'_ was the funniest thing Eugene could have possibly said. Mostly they're just drunk as well, and anticipating fucking with some poor boy's night.

_"Hi."_ the operator says, sounding distracted and leaving the conversation open. Eugene’s never called one of these lines before, but if he had to guess they’re not supposed to do that.

"Ahh," Roe half laughs, he regrets taking the dare, or at least not thinking about what he was going to say beforehand.

_"My name's Babe ... w-what's yours-"_ his words are bitten off at the end and it makes Eugene quirk his head over the phone. There's no mistaking the awkward and labored way he tacks on _" ... big boy."_ to the end of his sentence.

The nickname makes the bottom fall out of Roe's stomach and he feels instantly like a guilty pervert. "Uhh ... Babe?" That can’t be his real name. "I’m Gene ...and uh" he drops his voice down as low as he can “please don’t call me ‘big boy’ again.”

The room nearly erupts with movement. Guys twisting and restraining themselves to keep from laughing. They still hang on Roe's every word, waiting for some sort of punch line to the whole thing. Roe feels worse and worse with every second that ticks by.

There's a shaky sigh on the other line but when Babe speaks he sounds forcefully calm. _"Then what would you rather have me call you ... Gene?"_

His mind is telling him to turn back now, and that there are just so many better ways to be spending his time, but the expectant looks on everyone's faces, plus the four shots of vodka in his stomach prevent him from stopping. "What would I have you call me?" Eugene repeats the question simply for the guys to hear. He gives a small, nervous laugh and answers, "Umm, my friends call me ‘Doc’."

The room can’t contain itself any longer. The guys erupt in laughter not even slightly suppressed. It's really nothing, not even a proper joke, but Eugene feels proud for a moment in his drunken state.

Until, through the noise of the crowded apartment, Roe hears a shuttering breath and a poorly stifled sob on the other end of the line, and Gene cannot deny the way his stomach twists itself for not stopping when he had the chance.

"Woah, hey," He doesn't know what to say but he’s got to say something. "Babe, ah, please don't cry." And it sounds generic, but it’s hard to be personal with someone you've just barely met. It does get the attention of the room though. A few guys hear Roe and they stop smiling. Their laughter dies with amazing speed.

Using 'shaky' to describe Babe's breathing would have been a gross understatement. _"H-hey, look I'm ... I'm so s-sorry. This is your d-dollar an' ... an', ah, you don't wanna hear any of this."_

"Hey, Roe, what's goin' on?"

"Is he _crying_?"

Gene covers the receiver and looks around the room. His eyes meet Carwood Lipton’s - the guy who invited him in the first place, introduced Eugene to all his friends – and he tries to convey some sort of crisis signal.

Well whatever it was supposed to be, it probably just looked more like a serious facial spasm, eliciting a confused shrug from Lipton, and more worried murmurs from the crowd of guys.

"Shit ..."

“Dude, that was _your_ fuckin’ dare!”

“ _Nuh uh_ Bull said it, not me!”

“Gene,” someone’s saying in his ear, but he doesn’t turn his head to identify who “just apologize and hang up.”

With Babe still crying on the other line, Roe can feel the situation come to a head and he knows he cant stay in this apartment any longer. Maybe it's rude of him to ignore his friends, and new friends at that, but Eugene considers it to be far ruder to ignore someone when they're upset, so he just holds up his hand to them as he stands (with some difficulty) up from the couch.

"Nah nah you’re fine ... what's the matter, really?" Roe presses, weaving through those sitting on the floor, making his way to the door. There's more uneven breathing on the line, but Eugene's standing out in the hall, alone, before Babe speaks again.

“ _No y-you gotta pay by the minute an’ you didn’t call to hear me br-break down like this,_ ” he inhales sharply, “let me transfer you to another operator.” Babe finishes, sounding slightly more resolute.

“I-uh, I didn’t actually call to hear anything,” Roe tells him, leaning against one of the hallway walls. “It was a dare from some friends.”

Babe sniffles on the other end, and Gene’s heart sinks. He knows it’s likely not his fault the kid’s upset, otherwise he would’ve just hung up on Roe already, but that doesn’t quell his urge to help him.

_Fuck_ , he thinks, _fuck my incessant need to comfort people._

“Your, uh, your friends call you ‘Doc’ ‘cause you a doctor or something?” Babe eventually asks him.

“A lifeguard … actually.” He tells him, realizing now how stupid it was for him to suggest Babe call him that a minute ago.

“ _Oh_ ,” he sniffles again, “see I was just wonderin’ ‘cause I just got in from the hospital.” A pause, “My friend Julian was killed in a … a hit-and-run this afternoon.”

_Wow_.

“Shit, Babe,” Gene starts, but doesn’t know how to follow it. How does one even begin to comfort a grieving stranger? If Babe were here he could throw an arm around him or something, but he’s not.

“ _Sorry_.” Babe says, his voice breaking at the end.

“Nah what? Babe don’t say ‘sorry’, there’s nothing to be sorry for.” Roe pushes his free hand through his hair, this kid is a mess. “You’re upset, and you should be, that’s … that’s horrible what happened … I mean if you don’t mind me asking, why’d you even come to work?”

_Wow_ , he thinks, _great question Eugene, A+ damage control_.

“I thought it’d take my mind off it.” Babe sighs, “I guess I thought wrong.”

A nervous laugh escapes Gene’s throat before he has the presence of mind to stop it, but he’s relieved a second later when Babe echoes his laugh on the other end. Some of the tension fades, and Roe feels confident enough to press on.

“Are you okay though, I mean, um, are you gonna’ be alright?” A door opens somewhere down the hall and a man much older than Gene starts in the opposite direction for the staircase. For a moment he’s reminded about the party raging inside the apartment and wonders if any of the guys still care about their prank-gone-wrong.

“I just don’t know what I’m gonna’ do once I get home,” Babe tells him, “him and I have shared an apartment ever since I moved here and now …”

Eugene slides down the wall to sit on the floor. It sounds rough, it really does, but he doesn’t know what he could possibly do to help. A slow moment ticks by.

“There isn’t anyone else you could stay with for the night, just so you, you know, you don’t have to be alone?” It’s a weak suggestion, he knows.

“I really don’t know anyone in the city yet, save for a few people,” Babe says, sounding less upset but still defeated, “and no one I could call at three in the morning.”

_Shit_ , it hits him, _is it really that late?_ He doesn’t feel tired at all.

_How long ago did I call?_ He asks himself, then remembers _oh no … this isn’t even my phone_.

_No no no this isn’t even my phone!_

“Shit, um Babe …?” he says hesitantly.

“Yeah?”

“I’ve gotta go, um, see I’m not on my phone, I’m on a friends phone an-“

“Oh,” Babe says and there’s no mistaking the dejection in his voice, “no, I totally understand, Gene, um … it’s cool if-“

_Fuck fuck no that’s not what_ I- “Well I was just, um, wonderin’ if I could, um, call you back ...” he stutters out, anxiously running his hand through his hair, “… on _my_ phone.”

“…”  
There’s a pause. A long pause.

_Smooth Eugene_ , he thinks, closing his eyes, _now you’ve done it._

“Umm,” Babe starts, and Gene braces himself. As a chat line operator it’s completely within Babe’s right to say no and Roe expects him to. What makes him the most uncomfortable is the fact that now Babe might think he had ulterior motives in trying to comfort him.

_What the fuck am I even doing,_ he asks himself for the second time that night.

“Y-yeah, um okay,” Babe says, and Gene startles a bit, “but, um, you shouldn’t call back here … we’re, ah, discouraged from talking to the same guy multiple times.” He stops and Eugene can hear him take a breath. “Can I give you my personal number?”

His insides jerk and Roe feels a weight lifted off his chest _._ “Yeah yeah, um, absolutely.” _He doesn’t think I’m a pervert,_ Eugene grins, _he’s not totally creeped out by me!_ He stands so he can fish his own phone out of his pocket.

Babe relays him a number with an out-of-state area code and it doesn’t slip Roe’s attention. He selects the option to save it to his contacts, and is faced with the question of Babe’s name. _I’ll broach that subject at a later date,_ he tells himself, typing in B-A-B-E with his thumb _. It kind of has a nice ring to it anyway_.

“So I’ll call you back?” Roe says a moment later, less like a question and more like a statement. Down the hall the older man returns to his apartment, accompanied by a 6-pack of Heineken.

“Yeah,” Babe breaths, sounding for the first time that night like his spirits had been slightly lifted. “Cool.” He adds.

“Um, I’ll talk to you in a few, then …”

“Alright.”

“Okay.”

“Um …”

It’s awkward, but _good_ awkward if there is such a thing.

“Yeah alright, um … bye.”

“Bye.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written an AU before.  
> Or a multi-chapter fic.  
> Buuut ...  
> Stay tuned for updates I guess.


End file.
